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He heard a scream. It was across the hedgemaze, no it was through the hedge maze. He didn’t waste a single second, and dove in. Unlike the comfort of the twisting concrete walls of his home alleyways, the green hedges felt constricting. He may as well believed the walls were closing in. But that was not logical. Still, it did not help when a dead end jumped in his face. He turned, coat flowing around him.
If he could keep his head he could get through, but the time from when he heard the scream was going. The murderer could be long gone. In this terrifying black hole, he saw no one running past him. It meant that he was nowhere close to the body. He was growing more discouraged by the second. A deathly awareness came upon him, that he couldn’t tell how much time passed in the maze. Still, he persevered.
Even if the murderer was not there, logic could solve this murder, just as long as he could get to the body. After a few more minutes, he came across a clearing. Only, he recognized the beautiful fountain from above on the hill. He was only in the center of the maze. He bit his tongue, and kept going.
Pathways, dead ends, and double-backing, through all he trekked. Logico did not own a car, he walked to all of his cases, and he would not stop walking to his next one. Finally, he got to the lookout tower, once blocked from view by the hedge mazes. Like his own death bed, he walked steadily towards it. Perhaps Dame Obsidian had killed again. He rounded the big stone spiral staircase. Alas, Dame Obsidian would never kill again, for she was dead.
There was no murderer to be seen, and no way for him to quickly look for clues without having to traverse the maze again. He’d have to rely on his infallible memory to sort out the clues. This however, he could do while wandering through a maze and he set a path down again. He was glad that he had such an experience with cardio.
The night had gone such as this. Lord Lavender came down and joined them all for drinks brought by the butler. Constable Copper had mentioned her intrigue to discover the grounds. After that, they all went separate paths, and Deductive Logico stayed behind and watched.
In the distance of the night, he saw two forms by the cliff which circled around towards the ancient ruins. One was a tall figure, likely the tallest there, Lord Lavender, and another held a pair of gardening shears. He had investigated them earlier in the day and there was no mistaking their silhouette. But in the blur of the night the forms had gone their separate ways one to the maze and one to the ruins.
There was another weapon, however, a flower pot. He had remembered seeing it in the maze next to the fountain. It almost didn’t belong there, but he had definitely not seen it at the ruins, or had he? He hadn’t, but skepticism is good in his line of work. At that point, he had mindlessly reached the fountain. There it was, the flower pot, but the flowers inside had not been replanted, meaning it was not the murder weapon.
Then it dawned on him, a truly terrifying plot. While they had all gone their separate ways, he saw Miss Saffron going up to the house, and coming down with tea. He had asked her about it. She said it was in memory of Earl Grey, a close friend of theirs, now in jail. She had two cups, one for her and one for Dame Obsidian. The tea was definitely not within the maze, and was most certainly not in the ruins.
He had stepped out into the clearing, now face to face with Lord Lavender about to take a sip of tea and Miss Saffron with her cup. He smacked the tea out of the Lord’s hands.
“Oh my,” he exclaimed, pressing a dainty hand to his chest, “Oh sire, would you please expla-”
“No time,” Logico interrupted and pushed the two forward, “We must get Constable Copper from the ruins immediately. Dame Obsidian is dead.”
As they rushed down the cliffside to the Constable. Logico tugged down on his hat and gloves.
“Constable, get your cuffs ready,” Logico announced. “In the lookout tower, Dame Obsidian was murdered. I know whodunnit. There were three possible murder weapons, gardening shears, a flowerpot, and tea. Lord Lavender did not have the gardening shears. But Miss Saffron definitely had the tea. Leaving the Constable with the gardening shears, famously used to clear the grass by the ruins. Lord Lavender must’ve had the flowerpot, which was by the fountain. MEANING!” He pointed at one of them. “Miss Saffron was the only one in the tower, and using Dame Obsidian’s cyanide that she keeps on her, you poisoned her drink. Saffron, I have not underestimated you, and because of that you’ll be put away for murder.”
Saffron stared at him with a blank expression. “Well, I guess I’m going to jail then,” she replied and held out her hands for the cuffs. It took the wind out of Logico’s sails. He still had one mystery to look discover though.
“Ah! Just wait, if she was poisoned. How could she scream out for help?” Logico questioned. Lavender laughed.
“Oh good sir, that was I. The fountain turned on as I was sitting on it.”
So that was that. Four sets of murders surrounding Dame Obsidian just to end on a simplistic case. As much as she may have been a possible maniacal genius, Logico had considered Dame Obsidian a friend after it all. It was this that drew him back through the maze one final time. Now having been through it twice, his memory helped him through much quicker. A puzzle such as mazes are never quite so fun after you know how they work. He went up the staircase, feeling the stone brick as he went.
Finally, he reached the top, where his friend lied. But as he rounded the entryway, he smiled. Dame Obsidian’s body was gone.